Sundance arrived the next month, and Stewart made clear audiences shouldn't characterize the film as simply one about a stripper. "[The shocking thing is] maybe that it's not, like, shocking," Stewart told us. "It's really not a stripper movie at all."

Instead, she explained, "Rileys" is best understood as a story of a girl trying to make it on her own — and lacking the skills to pull it off. KStew called it the most personal role of her career.

"It's about understanding who you're playing and you have a responsibility because you feel like you can't let them down," she told us. "[My character] really became a part of me. I haven't felt so personally involved in something."

Stewart Grows UpMonths passed without much "Rileys" news. Then in July the trailer hit the Web, showing the world a very un-Bella-like character. We then brought you a slew of new photos. As Stewart explained to us, she dove into research for the role — and almost ended up with a new job.

"One shocking thing was to find how easy it is [to flaunt your sexuality]," she explained. "Like, I went to a strip club with the director and the costume designer and it being an odd grouping of people going into a strip club in the middle of the afternoon, I was, like, straight-up offered a job."

We're glad she didn't take them up on the offer. Stewart was coming into her own, and she looked and sounded as confident as we've ever seen her when she hit the "Rileys" red carpet earlier this month.

"She's grown up. She's a woman now," "Welcome to the Rileys" director Jake Scott told us, adding that she possessed the seeds of that maturity in October '08 when production on the movie kicked off. "It was an act of courage on her part, especially when you consider she was just 18."